John Cena’s Guilty Pleasure Flop Destroyed by Critics Suddenly Tops Prime’s Chart

Summary:

• The 2023 Cena-starring action comedy is now climbing Prime’s Chart.
• It follows an ex-operative on his mission to provide security for a journalist, who gets in trouble during a military coup in South America.
• It was panned by critics for being plain and failing to fulfill the genre’s responsibilities.

It seems John Cena is quite serious about turning from a professional wrestler into a recognized actor, as the movies starring him took over the streaming platforms charts. These include Prime’s prominently top-tier comedy Ricky Stanicky, Apple TV ’s Argylle and we’re not talking about the hyped Barbie, where he has made a hilarious cameo.

Gained enough credit as an actor by portraying Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad in 2021 and the eponymous 2022 television series, Cena is only starting to explore his acting talent. However, one of his last years’ movies shows it not from the best side.

Featuring Cena’s Mason Pettis, a former special forces operative, it follows him on a freelance gig in South America. There he needs to protect disgraced journalist Claire Wellington as she goes to the fictional authoritarian country to interview its dictator.

As it always happens in similar movies, nothing goes according to the plan, with a military coup breaking out there, forcing the main characters to take part in the survival game in the jungle and nonetheless to get the scoop of Claire’s lifetime.

Cena’s Mason here obviously tries to be serious and determined, which seems to be quite a poor screenwriting or casting decision, as he’d better be the film’s comical relief, just he is in the above-mentioned features. His chemistry with Claire (played by Alison Brie) turns out to be awkward, rather than tense, as well as his character overall.

This movie is intended to be an action comedy; nevertheless, it barely does both. In fact, it includes few real jokes, but is really funny because it’s cringe inducing. As for the action sequences, you wouldn’t find anything inventive and memorable here, but the fighting sequences are indeed well-choreographed.

Titled Freelance, it became a shameful box office disappointment back in 2023, earning only $9.7 million against a budget of $40 million. More than that, it gained a miserable 8% of critical acclaim, and it’s one of the lowest possible scores on Rotten Tomatoes.

However, despite all, it’s really popular on Prime, as it’s now holding the fourth place in the platform’s global chart.

“It's a shame to see so many comments sh*tting on this. I really enjoyed,” claims Redditor @ElTrenchy, standing against the movie’s haters.

Indeed, if you enjoy straight-forward action movies, like The Lost City and Uncharted, you will have a cool evening with Freelance, as it’s available on Prime Video .